The Dressmaker
by Yurutono
Summary: Ayase Eli is destined to be married to a wealthy politician, but when a humble dressmaker tasked with creating her wedding dress makes Eli question her feelings, how quickly does her world change? Rating could be subjected to change.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's note:** I've been sat on this AU for a while. Admittedly with a few decisions to make but other than that I have the general storyline. And I came up with this whilst watching The Dressmaker a few months back. Would recommend.

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"Honestly Elichika, I don't know where this sudden attitude came from," Eli's mother shook her head as they were halfway down the street away from another dress shop, "You'll have to accept one shop sooner or later."

Eli sighed as she looked at the wedding band on her finger with no emotion other than disdain. She elected to ignore her mother's annoyed rambling as she absentmindedly scanned the shops.

"There's only one shop left and it isn't even that well known! But if you insist on being so fussy then we should take a look," Eli cast a glance at her, sighing inaudibly as her mother walked in front of her.

"Mother, there was nothing I found particularly interesting in those shops," Eli protested and it was the truth. The dresses were not to her taste at all. Either too frilly, too plain, or too puffy. Anything along those lines, and even the slightest excuse to get out of the stores and away from their animated owners was enough for her.

"Well, I found the last one just fine. You even rejected a Minami dress that your father and I were willing to pay all that money for."

"With all due respect, Minami dresses are overrated."

"If I was your age I would've loved to have gotten married in a Minami dress," Her mother sent her a curt glance, "I don't see the problem."

"Well, I'm not you, mother."

"Bite your tongue Elichika. I don't expect you to be, but I want some respect."

Eli didn't let her expression change as she swallowed down the words she was about to say. The topic of her wedding was a sensitive one; this didn't feel like what she wanted. Even if the date was fixed many months away, she was already feeling regret. It was mainly family pressure mixed with an (un)healthy dose of greed as well. Well, not greed on her part anyway.

They fell into silence at Eli's non-reply. Eli just wanted this day to be over if she was honest.

Her mother stopped and she very nearly bumped into her in her absentmindedness. The final shop she would have to slog through lay just in front of them.

It was fairly humble compared to the other places they had visited, with a likelihood that the person who owned the shop lived there as well on the top floor. Eli scanned over the sign quickly, taking a vague note of the shop's name, _Tojo Designs._

Eli entered after her mother and the two were greeted with a relatively enclosed room; fabrics draped over partitions, mannequins in messy lines with labels pinned onto their fronts and a desk covered in sketches and notebooks.

Upon hearing the bell of the door ring, the woman in the store turned her head away from her current project, an elegant suit with a dark blue tie, and strangely enough, on the only mannequin without a name label. She took the pins out of her mouth and left the needle inside the fabric carefully, sticking the pins inside a small cushion on her wrist.

"Ah, welcome! Just give me a moment and I'll be right with you," She gently lifted the mannequin and put it back in line, drawing a wisp of hair out if her face and putting it behind her ear.

Despite the fact that she looked relatively tired, her green eyes remained bright and her hair still shone, despite the fact that some of it had escaped from the neat bun she had initially put it up in. With a contented sigh, she turned back to her entrants and approached them with a slight bow.

"Thank you for your patience. How may I help you?"

Eli's mother cast her a cursory glance before turning back to the shop owner. Eli didn't seem to have any objections, in fact she seemed relatively stunned, "We're looking for a wedding dress for my daughter."

"Ah, I see, what kind if thing are you looking for?" She folded her arms, that same warm smile still on her face.

"Elichika? It's up to you what you want."

"Oh?" Eli swallowed, "Y-yes. I was interested in something figure hugging, maybe elegant?"

The woman chuckled, "Maybe elegant?" She stepped closer and inspected her body shape, "Ah, I can see you in something like that."

Eli didn't raise any protests, unlike she had done with the other shops. Her mother seemed quite pleased at that fact.

"So, is this the place you want to go with, Elichika?" She turned to her and Eli nodded silently, "Well then, I shall have to take my leave. Your little sister's tutor needs to be paid," She pushed the door open, but she stopped before leaving, "Any and all payments shall be taken care of Tojo-san. Or at least, I presume that is you?"

"Ah, I haven't properly introduced myself, have I? How rude of me," She giggled quietly, "I'm Tojo Nozomi, but you can call me Nozomi."

Eli's mother smiled and nodded politely as she left and when the door was fully shut, Nozomi grabbed the tape measure from her desk and sighed, "I do apologise if this seems a bit candid, but I'll need you to take off your clothing so I can get accurate measurements."

Eli gulped and flushed red lightly, clearing her throat before Nozomi could take too much notice. Nozomi drew the blind over the door and the sign to 'closed' to allow her client some privacy and Eli couldn't quite get to the back of her dress.

"Nozomi-san, would you mind unzipping the back of my dress for me?"

Nozomi nodded and made her way behind her, holding the tape measure between her teeth and drawing the zip down, unknowingly holding her breath as it slipped off her to reveal a sheen of pale, well kept skin. She moved away as Eli worked off the rest of her dress to only be clad in her bra and underwear.

Nozomi was surprised to see that Eli didn't even have to wear a corset to retain her figure. She brought her over to beside the desk and flipped open a notebook and fountain pen, holding the pen between her teeth. She let out a long, silent exhale before she began to take measurements, allowing herself 'accidental' brushes to her skin.

"So, you're getting married then?" Nozomi broke the silence in a cheery fashion.

"Yes," Eli glanced at the ring on her finger, "I am."

"I never did get your name, do you mind?"

"Not at all. I'm Ayase Eli."

Nozomi penned down her name at the top of the page and on a label for a mannequin, humming quietly, "Ayase? I thought you looked familiar. You're getting married to Yamazaki Noburu, right? The politician?"

Eli delayed her response for a moment, "Yes, that's right."

"Ah, a lucky man from the looks of things," She said, bringing the tape round for a waist measurement.

"I suppose so."

Nozomi slowed her movements, as though assessing something in her head, but Eli didn't think about it too deeply.

"I've noticed that one of those clothes doesn't have a label on them," Eli said, observing it, "And it isn't a dress either."

"Ah yes," Nozomi hummed, "They wanted the utmost discretion regarding their suit. No mention of their name, gender, or anything like that. I can't say any more, I apologise. They paid me extra despite me insisting that I didn't need it to keep their identity private."

"Ah?"

Eli found it the most embarrassing when Nozomi had to take a bust measurement, but when it was over, she found she had been holding her breath as she did so.

"So, you wanted figure hugging? That will definitely work with you. Elegant as well, so perhaps just white with stitched patterns?" Nozomi wrote down the final measurement, "Oh, and you can put your dress back on now."

Eli did as she was told, allowing Nozomi to help her zip it back up before she replied, "That's fine."

"I'll have some sketches by tomorrow, can you drop by then?"

Eli nodded, "I can make that. I'll bring my mother along as well."

"Good. I'll see you then."

Nozomi sent her a warm smile and Eli managed one back as she left, quite honestly wondering how she had been flustered into buying a dress here. Then again, it wasn't like she had any more room to refuse. Surprisingly, she found herself looking forward to seeing the dressmaker the next day.

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 **Author's note:** I wonder if anyone can spot my spinoff bait :0


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's note:** *Whispers to BLMRemojo* The rating is subjected to change :0 I could smut if I wanted to  
But smut is good. Smut is always good. My friend convinced me to smut. So I shall probably smut in later chapters.

* * *

When Eli walked down the next day, she tried her best to ignore her mother giving her various backhanded comments about her choosing of shops. Not that she had a problem with the dressmaker's work, she just had found the trek over the city rather wearing.

As they entered the shop again, Nozomi was sat at her desk making a few strokes with her pencil before she raised her head to meet them, "Welcome back!"

She stood from her desk and took her designs from the table, "I have three preliminary designs here," She offered them to the two, "If you want to choose one or maybe take parts of one and implement it into another, then I can do that quickly."

Eli was silently encouraged by her mother to take the designs first, glossing over the features of lace patterns licking up the dress, the vague sketch of a veil on the faceless model and a few different kinds of straps over the shoulders. The designs were simple enough for Eli to like them and there weren't too many frills and the dresses were drawn to hug the model they were on.

"Well Elichika?"

"I-I like all of them… To be honest."

"Ah, I'm glad! But does that mean you can't decide?" Nozomi cocked one eyebrow up with a light chuckle; her arms behind her back.

But Eli shook her head and shuffled two of the designs behind her favourite, "This one."

The sketch detailed a plain white dress with a few lace designs stitched in, nowhere close to the edges, which Eli favoured and with a v-neck reaching up into a high neck collar. Nozomi maneuvered herself around to look.

"Mmhm, good choice. I was quite proud of that one. If that is your final decision then I can give you a quote for the dress. I'll need an up front payment too, I apologise."

"That's not a problem Nozomi-san," Eli's mother answered as Nozomi took her designs back, leaving the two rejected ones on her desk on a neat pile of various other designs.

As Nozomi and her mother chatted and talked about the business side of things, Eli glossed over the designs laden on her table and the mannequins along the walls. The suit from the other day appeared to be completed; Eli assumed that all remained was for the commissioner to pick it up, and dresses that could potentially be mistaken for Parisian fashion, but with a somewhat local twist.

When payment was fixed, Eli's mother nudged her gently, "Everything's been sorted, we can leave Nozomi-san to it."

"Can I check up on the progress…? You know, when I want to?" Eli traded looks between the two other women in the room, her mother seemingly taken aback.

"If you want to, I don't mind at all. Company is nice as well," Nozomi answered earnestly.

The two bowed and turned out of the shop.

"I didn't think you were too bothered about this wedding dress and now you want to check on its progress frequently?" Eli's mother questioned with a shake of the head, "Honestly, you change your mind like the weather. But if she doesn't mind, I have no objections."

Eli watched her from the corner of her eye, having half a mind to answer back to her.

Eli had decided to visit a couple of days later, when perhaps the general shape of her dress had been made.

She opened the door and listened to the bell ring and thus, Nozomi was knelt and clearing up the bottom of the dress' skirt, and although the patterns to be implemented into it were not yet applied, they had been sketched out in more detail, apparent by the paper littering the desk with scribbles and notes scrawled on them, likely out of speed.

She sent her a warm smile as she finished with the hem, straightening up, "Here for a checkup?"

Eli nodded, "I am. How's it coming along?"

"Well, you can see that it's going well," She brushed her hand along the fabric, "I just have to clear up a few of the edges of the fabric and then I can start on the collar and patterning."

"Good. Do you mind if I sit down?"

"Not at all Ayase-san," She smiled and turned back to the dress as Eli took a seat in the nearby chair.

"So, how did you come to own this shop?"

"Ah… It was my mother's. She bought this place with financial assistance from my father. She taught me everything I know," Nozomi glanced at her before she laid her hands on the dress again.

"I see," Eli nodded, "Was this place expensive?"

"Not from what I gathered, as far as shops go," She tucked a loose hair behind her ear, "This place is quite small; humble. Also it doubles up as a living space, so I like to think I do quite well…"

"Why not take your designs further? You have talent."

"The fashion business is ruthless Ayase-san. It's nice to not have to worry about stolen designs, rivalries and Parisian venom. No offence, but all you have to worry about is looking pretty," Nozomi glanced at her, "And you seem to have that completely tied down."

"Well… Thank you," Eli could think of little else to say.

"It's all about sales, knocking out competitors and fighting dirty," She sighed, "I just want to make people happy. This is the only way I know how really."

As she watched Nozomi continue to work, she raised an eyebrow, "I… Apologise if I made things awkward there…"

"Mm, no, no, don't worry. I like to talk about things with clients. I don't hold many personal secrets, you know?"

"But that means you have some?"

Nozomi paused, "... Everyone has a secret or two they'll take to their grave."

"You're not wrong I suppose…"

"Anyway, onto lighter things?" Nozomi questioned, "How did you meet your fiancé?"

"Ah, it was at a party. Our parents seemed to know each other, so they introduced us," She thought back to the day and didn't seem to realise that at that time it was almost as though they had been forcibly pushed together, somewhat awkwardly as their parents conversed, they were just… Next to each other. And thus, conversation had begun.

"Sounds lovely," She glanced at her with a smile, "How long have you been seeing each other?"

"Just about a year now. He decided it was a good time to propose, and I accepted," She leant back on the chair, ignoring a little feeling in the back of her mind about… Something.

"I'll probably start on some of the lace designs in a bit, when I'm done with the general shape of the dress."

"Well, I was only going to just check in for a moment," Eli stood up, "But I should be going. I'll probably check back in a few days."

"Ah, you should probably know I'll have it done in about another week, what with the other dresses I have," She waved her hand towards the line of mannequins, "And because the patterns might take a bit of time and patience."

"Really? That fast?" She stopped beside the door.

"Yes, but when you check in I'll probably need to do a fitting to check I have the measurements right."

"Ah, okay. I'll see you then," With a small bow, Eli exited the shop to leave Nozomi to her own devices.

Nozomi moved away from the dress towards her desk, sifting off a few pieces of paper to see the design for Eli's wedding dress again. Why had she drawn Eli as the model instead of just a faceless person with ordinary bodily features? It would be embarrassing for her to see that after all. She sighed as she brought it back with her, laying it on the floor and continuing with her work before she heard the door open again.

She hastily walked forward to block the paper from view as she greeted the person.

"Ah, welcome back! You're here to pick up your suit I presume?"

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 **Author's note:** Overwatch took my money and ruined my life. If I don't update as often as I could, it's Overwatch's fault.


	3. Chapter 3

Eli was not a woman to break her word. As she had promised, she arrived back at the store within a few days, pleased to see that the dressmaker was sat by her desk sewing lace designs; only stopping to greet Eli.

"Don't you have a sewing machine?"

"Well, I did, but it broke and I haven't found the time to buy a replacement. Besides, sewing by hand is a nice and traditional way, no?"

"I didn't do a lot of sewing in my childhood," Eli admitted, "My grandmother always did that. Not so much anymore though."

"Mm, yeah? What did she do?"

"It was mainly fixing and patching up. I think when she was younger she did a little bit of clothes making," Eli sat down on the chair as she did before, "But when she moved over here, she settled down. She didn't need to do it anymore."

"Oh?" Nozomi leant on the desk, "Where did she move from?"

"Russia."

"Ah, that explains a few things," She chuckled as her eyes glanced up at Eli away from the needle.

Eli raised an eyebrow, "Like what?"

"Well," Nozomi pushed her needle through the fabric, "Your stature and your hair mostly."

"Ah…"

They fell into silence as Nozomi kept on stitching the designs, occasionally looking at the dress and mentally planning out exactly where each lace pattern would go. As she pulled through the needle one final time, she placed it down, knotting the thread and standing up.

"So, are you ready for the fitting?" She straightened out her own dress.

Eli nodded, standing as well and reaching for the zip of her dress.

"Don't need my help this time?" Nozomi teased slightly with a small grin.

"No, I have it sorted," Eli said as the dress slipped off her shoulders, the fabric pooling at her feet before she picked it up and left it neatly over the chair.

Nozomi was carefully removing the dress from the mannequin, gently straightening out the collar and brushing off the v-neck, "I know it's a little bit plain right now, but this is only a fitting."

Eli nodded as Nozomi began to help her into the dress, moving her ponytail out of the way as Nozomi zipped up the back, "Do you feel comfortable?"

"It feels fine in a few areas, but… The collar is quite tight on my neck and the waist seems a little bit looser than it needs to be."

Nozomi took in Eli's observations without a hint of offence, "Mmhm, no worries, I can sort that out with a few more adjustments."

She pulled her notebook out of the drawer and raised an eyebrow at the measurements on the page, "I'm going to retake your neck and waist measurements, they don't look quite right to me," She prepared another fountain pen and retrieved her tape measure, unrolling it a little bit before leaving it on the desk to help Eli out of the dress again and put it back on the mannequin.

She grabbed the tape measure again and wrapped her arms around her waist so the tape reached all around her. Eli looked away with her arms slightly raised, sometimes feeling her fingers brush against her and gentle breath on her skin.

She glanced downwards as Nozomi crossed out and rewrote the measurement, Nozomi letting out an especially long exhale as the tape measure fell away from Eli's waist. As Nozomi tapped her pen against her chin, Eli began to put her dress back on, as the neck measurement would still be able to be taken.

Nozomi turned back to her, draping the tape measure over Eli's neck rather oddly if she thought about it, before she mumbled something under her breath; Eli assumed it was something about her measurements. She placed her hands on both parts left and right of Eli's head on the tape measure, looking up at Eli with her lips slightly parted. Their eyes locked for a second, as Nozomi gently tugged her down to meet her lips.

It was only a short, simple kiss, but electrifying. An involuntary shudder pushed up Eli's spine before she pulled back against the tape measure loosely keeping her head in the same place. They stood there frozen for a moment before Nozomi flinched backwards, a sudden break in her typical composure.

"A-ah, I'm sorry, that was very unprofessional of me!" Nozomi exclaimed, turning to scribble something down in the notebook; not that she had actually gotten the measurement, trying to inject a small amount of lightheartedness into the situation.

"N-no, it's…" Eli couldn't quite finish, not really knowing what to make of the kiss. It had left a slight tingle on her lips and she watched Nozomi's back as confusion attacked her mind.

"I-I'll adjust the dress for when you next arrive… I should have everything done by then," She said with a swallow, her back still turned to her.

"I should… I should leave, I'll drop by next week," Eli edged towards the door, "S-see you." She scratched behind her ear and backed out the door as Nozomi murmured a goodbye after her, her lips still tingling no less than when the two had separated their lips.

* * *

The following week had been confusing for Eli. With the kiss still burned in her mind, she wondered why it wouldn't leave her, even as she gave her fiancé one as well. And her fiancé felt nothing like soft lips that had barely been on her own for a moment.

A few members of her family had noticed, but they chalked it up to simply feeling ill. Alisa was the only one to ask about whether it was something to do with a relationship issue. Eli supposed that it was, but at the same time she had reassured her and told her it wasn't.

But she knew she had to go back to the dressmaker sooner or later.

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 **Note:** smol chapter :0


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